Sword by Da Chen

Miu Miu is a young girl growing up in a small village in China. On her fifteenth birthday, her mother shares with her a secret: that Miu's father, a noted swordsman, was killed by the Emperor when her father had made him a special, magical sword, so that her father could never make a sword equal to the one he'd made for the Emperor.

Miu Miu is told she will be married to the son of her father's old apprentice, a boy named Tong Ting, who will take his revenge on the Emperor. But Miu Miu is made of sterner stuff, and demands to take revenge on her father's behalf. Her mother goes to the rest of the family after Miu Miu convinces her that the young woman will not falter or fail in her efforts to retain justice, and the rest of the family agrees after her mother bribes them into acceptance.

Miu's father's last sword is revealed, meant to be wielded by a woman, and Miu Miu takes it and goes off to find Tong Ting and make her destiny. But her going is noticed by the monk who taught her martial arts, and he watches her leave with concern. Miu Miu travels to the capital to find her promised husband, and finds Tong Ting acting as a young Bravo. Once she fights him, not knowing who he is, he discovers that she is a woman, and they soon discover who they are to each other, falling quickly in love.

But they have a job to do, and each has a destiny to fulfill. First, they must find a way to sneak Miu Miu's sword into the section of the capital where the Emperor lives, as no weapons are allowed to be carried there by any save his fiercely loyal guards. Then, once they have done so, utilizing their skills and cunning, they must find a place to ambush the Emperor, and Miu Miu's job will be to slay him.

But any man strong and cunning enough to become and stay Emperor may also have enough strategems to foil an attack, even by ones so skilled and cunning as Miu Miu and Tong Ting. If their planned assassination goes bad, can they give the Emperor and his guards the slip long enough to go into hiding? And if she fails, will Miu Miu's family be able to forgive her?

I enjoyed this book, which matched a fantastic fantasy story with one that could have come from any point in history. Miu Miu is a strong female character, who goes out of the accepted bounds of female behavior. To do so, the family declares her dead. But when she fails in her mission and returns to her family sickened unto death by the Dragon-Emperor's poison, and has the audacity to survive, her family sentences her to death for failure. Falure to kill the Emperor or failure to die trying.

Though Miu isn't able to kill the Emperor, the impression left is not of a failure, but an uncommonly brave and skilled young woman thrust into a mission she felt she was ready for, but was not. And at the end, she turns from the destiny she failed at to a new one she is more suited for: living as the wife of Tong Ting, and questioning if she was really meant to kill the Emperor in the first place.

This combines the best of historical and fantasy novels for kids into a moving and exciting tale that both boys and girls will enjoy. Anyone who is into fantasy, manga, anime and historical tales will enjoy this novel, and girls will enjoy it the most, I think.